


begging for footnotes (in the story of your life)

by LifeBeforeDeath10



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: Also I'm new here so I apologize if this doesn't look right, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Drabble, F/M, Just a really sad story idea that I had, Sort of Freeform, because seriously Thalia's life is the saddest thing, inspired by tolerate it by taylor swift, pretty darn angsty read at your own risk, sort of stream of consciousness-style
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-17 01:34:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28966176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LifeBeforeDeath10/pseuds/LifeBeforeDeath10
Summary: Thalia's spear is bloody from that fight on Mount Othrys.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Luke Castellan/Thalia Grace
Kudos: 18





	begging for footnotes (in the story of your life)

_While you were out building other worlds, where was I?  
Where’s that man who’d throw blankets over my barbed wire?  
I made you my temple, my mural, my sky  
now I’m begging for footnotes in the story of your life  
_—Tolerate it, by Taylor Swift__

____  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  


I stare down the cliff where Luke’s body fell—a black abyss that I can’t help but be drawn to. I feel a hand on my shoulder and somewhere, distantly, in a place in her mind where I’m still sane, I see that it’s Annabeth. 

She’s got grey in her hair. I wonder if I do, too. I didn’t hold up the sky, but...

My spear is bloody. 

“Thals,” Annabeth says softly. Her voice sounds shaky. “Thals, it’s… it’s Zoe.” 

Luke was my only family. Luke and Annabeth and my… and… 

_No. ___

____

__

But now Luke’s gone.  
Annabeth says that he’s not dead. She gets this look in her eye—it’s hopeful. I want to tell her to ignore it. Luke’s gone. The Luke we knew is gone. I didn’t kill my Luke. I didn’t.

I remember when I first came out of that tree. A boy’s face, looking down on me. But it wasn’t Luke’s face. My first thoughts: _Why isn’t it Luke’s face—? Is that Annabeth? Why—? ___

____

____

Then the boy says he’s Percy. _Weird name. Sounds British. _He asks me mine. “Thalia,” I say. “Daughter of Zeus.”__

____

____

Later, we come into the Big House and there’s a centaur… Chiron. He tells me that Luke has joined Kronos, the worst titan in all of mythology, and that because of him there’s a war going on.

I didn’t believe it.

I stormed out of that house, only to see that boy, Percy, standing in front of me. And there’s something in his eyes that I can’t quite decipher. 

And though I hate it, sometimes I have that same hope that I see in Annabeth _(Annabeth who’s now thirteen) _. That he’ll come back to me. That it will all be the same.__

____

____

But it won’t be. It can never be the same. Because I’m watching Luke fall into the darkness and I caused that. I killed my best friend.

And then I here that he’s not dead. He’s still alive. And I have the strangest mix of emotions in me—relief, so that I don’t have to live with that pain, but guilt, because I’m not blind; I know that Luke will cause so many other lives to end when I could have just ended it right there. 

And then I join the Hunters, because what else will I do? Stay at Camp Half-Blood and _train, _where everything around me reminds me of him?__

____

____

And I’m fine in the Hunt. I’m always moving, always working for a better world. Who needs boys? They cause me too much pain.

But clearly, Annabeth and Percy are fine. Sometimes I see them and they’re so happy that it _hurts._

____

____

Those days on the run with Luke were the best days of my life. And the sick thing is; he did it for me. He joined Kronos for me. 

I act like I’ve got it all together. And I do, most days. But then sometimes at night, I hear his voice, and I wonder.

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya! Hope you enjoyed this, and thanks for reading! Comments and kudos feed my soul.  
> Also, if anyone would be really nice and comment how to italicize words on AO3 without having to add tags or anything and if that's possible, that would be great and I would give you an internet cookie (don't worry it would be blue).
> 
> Anyway, yours in demigodishness and all that. Peace out.


End file.
